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SECOND GENERATION
L O S A N G E LES
Sons and Daughters of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
email: 2ndGen@imeg.com
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G2 Newsletter
Volume, 14, Number 3
Elul 5757
September 1997
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
"... In five short years we, the Jewish Community, have reached a very sorry state, where, on the one hand, observance of the Law supersedes its spirit, and, on the other, militant advocacy becomes a substitute for our traditional faith."
Five years ago, in our Statement of Purpose, Second Generation identified itself as a group of individuals "committed to the oneness of the Jewish People, to solidarity with the State of Israel" as a result of "shared views and interests of children of Holocaust survivors." But do we really have shared values, or are we as fragmented and internally divided as the rest of the Jewish community? In five short years, does the Shoah, and its awesome lessons for world Jewry, exert any residual influence on how we treat our collective history, our faith, or our fellow Jew?
I would suggest that although universal lessons of tolerance, and the personal requirement to stand up to racial, ethnic, and religious hatred have passed into the public domain, lessons specific to the Jewish nation have been lost.
How can it be that in five short years we have witnessed in our own community, and in Israel, a change of focus from the preservation of our fragile, spiritual heritage to a discussion of "Who Is A Jew." How can it be that in five short years we have abandoned the idea of a collective voice speaking on behalf of Jewish people, to the cacophony of many angry voices. Who is to blame, and do we, the inheritors of a distinctive, collective legacy, have anything to contribute to the resolution of our internal conflicts?
There was a time when the idea of a boycott of Yom HaShoah by any Jewish denomination on the basis of the venue, or the date itself would have been completely dismissed as rude and insensitive. Alas, this behavior is no longer beyond the Pale. One even hears public discussion as to whether a communal Kaddish, specific to the Shoah, should even be recited. As Survivors age and pass from the scene, their powerful, and sober influence is no longer available to chasten political or ideological arrogance. And most arrogant of all is the suggestion, groundless according to Jewish law (Halachah), that acts of faith determine who is a Jew.
But groundless hatred of our brethren, Sinat Hinam, is not limited to the observant. Progressive, or liberal Judaism has also encouraged a schism in our community by applying secular principles on rabbinic Judaism. Religiously, it is very hard, even illogical, to accept that Jewish legal principles could be decided by a plurality of Reform Rabbis. Nor is it useful to demonize the Israeli Haredi and their politics from the pulpit, as I heard one Reform Rabbi do at a Shabbat Service this summer. Although we in the progressive movement like to consider our Jewish practice as a measured response to enlightened and educated principles, a challenge to Halachik or rabbinic Judaism is not necessarily enlightened or educated. How many of our own liberal central European ancestors first cast aside orthodox Judaism in favor of Messianism, only to find the mystical movements bankrupt, giving way to modern pluralistic Judaism.
In five short years we, the Jewish Community, have reached a very sorry state, where, on the one hand, observance of the Law supersedes its spirit, and, on the other, militant advocacy becomes a substitute for our traditional faith. I believe that the only reason that most of us grew up in such a different environment was that Judaism for most of the last fifty years was bracketed by the twin forces of Survival and Israel. Survival and Resistance, regardless of religious practice, represented a fundamental principle of Jewish continuity, binding the community to preserve the authentic memory of the Holocaust, to prevent its recurrence, and to sustain "our spiritual, ideological and cultural heritage." Israel provided us with the embodiment of that cultural heritage, a millenial miracle in our time.
Teaching that fundamental principle of Survival and Resistance already falls to us. We can never replace the Survivors, and their work is far from complete. But their legacy of Jewish continuity, and of spiritual unity, is ours. We, and the Survivors, hold the key to Tikkun HaAm- healing our People, and we better get working on it right away. Shana Tova.
-Gary Schiller, M.D.
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